History of my hometown and family is another passion . These collected writings are as important to me as my artwork. I am posting the writings here to share this portion of my collection of primary historical documents. — Rick Mangun

Walt and Julia's Farm

This is a historic site that provides insight to growing up on a farm in New Lenox in the 30's and 40's as well as a family history my mothers family. My mother and I collaborated on digitizing this project . Click the graphic to enter the site.

1928 Joliet Central High School

This is a scan of an original 1928 printed program for a National Band Competition held at Joliet Central High School. One of the Judges was John Phillips Sousa. My great grandmother went to this competition and saved this program. Click the graphic to download the files.

Henson Mangun Geneology

This is a short history of the Mangun family. It was written in 1961 by Henson Mangun. It was scanned and saved as an Adobe Acrobat file. Click the graphic to download the file.

Will County Centennial News Articles

This is a scanned collection of 29 Joliet Hearld News articles from the original papers(1840, 1936 and 1961). The subjects of the articles are "locals" , everyday life, and settling in the Joliet Area. My father saved these newspapers...I read them as a child and learned to love local history because of them. Click the graphic to download the file.

1859 Will County Directory

My cousin was remodeling his "older" home in dowtown Plainfield, Illinois in the late 70's. The basement had "log" walls...this book was found inside one of the walls. I scanned the book to share as an Adobe Acrobat file. Click the graphic to download the file.